The invention concerns an apparatus for orienting sausages having a conveyor device for transporting the sausages along a conveyor path, with a preferably circulating conveyor element on which the sausages can be placed at mutual spacings and with their longitudinal axis substantially perpendicular to the conveyor direction of the conveyor element.
It is generally known for a plurality of sausages to be brought together to form a group of sausages and for that group of sausages then to be placed in a packaging. For placing the group of sausages in a packaging like for example a tray, a crucial consideration which frequently arises is that the sausages in the group are in the same orientation relative to each other. In particular, sausages with a natural casing skin usually involve a curvature so that the sausages with the natural casing skin are in particular to be oriented relative to each other in such a way that the successively arranged sausages respectively have their curvature in the same orientation so that for example they can be packaged uniformly and thus compactly.
The state of the art like for example DE 10 2016 114 731 discloses, for example, an apparatus for orienting sausages, in particular a so-called natural casing sorting device, having a conveyor device with a circulating conveyor means for transporting the sausages along a conveyor path. The sausages are firstly placed on the conveyor means or transferred on to same with their longitudinal direction substantially parallel to the path of movement of the conveyor device. Provided above the conveyor device are two conveyor elements which circulate in parallel relationship in the conveyor direction and which extend at a predetermined spacing in substantially parallel relationship and provide a kind of transport passage for the sausages to be oriented. After the sausages leave the front end of the transport passage as viewed in the conveyor direction the sausages, in dependence on their curvature, they are positioned by means of the conveyor elements more to the one side or to the other side on the conveyor device, thereby forming a kind of sorting device which in point of fact implements a sorting function.